The Ancestral Trail

The Ancestral Trail is a now out-of-print partwork magazine that was originally published by Marshall Cavendish in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, parts of Europe and New Zealand between 1992 and 1994. There was also a computer game compiled in both DOS and Amiga formats.

The Ancestral Trail Partworks were then based on a manuscript initially written by Frank Graves, which split into two halves of 26 issues each. The first half partwork adaption, written by Fergus Fleming, takes place in the Ancestral World and describes Richard's struggle to restore good to the world. The second part, adapted and written by Ian Probert, takes place within the Cyber Dimension. It deals with Richard's attempts to fight evil while also attempting to return home. Each issue centered on an adventure against a particular adversary, and each issue ended on a cliffhanger. The Partworks were also published in several languages like in Germany (Im Reich der Urwesen) and Italy (La Storia Ancestrale).

The Ancestral Trail was illustrated by Julek Heller and Adam Heller. Computer-generated graphics were provided by Mehau Kulyk for issues #27 through #52.

Richard, on his way home, slips and falls, causing him to black out. When he wakes, he is in the Ancestral World, where he meets an old man named Golan. Golan explains to Richard that he is the prophesied "Chosen One" and that the Ancestral World is being destroyed by a being known as the "Evil One", and that he is close to winning the battle against the forces of good.

Golan is a Guardian and the Keeper of the Life Force, which is contained in the Tree of Life through seven Life Force Pods - each pod possesses a different Life Force. Six of the seven pods have been stolen, and consequently six Guardians have been captured. Only Golan's pod remains, but he is severely weakened. He sends Richard on a quest, which he must complete in twenty six days, to recover the missing Life Force pods and free the captured Guardians and their forces.

The basic expository beginnings of the story aren't featured in issue 1 of the series but in a special four-panel folder that was included with the first issue.

Richard (First appears in the Introductory Folder)

Orkan (First appears in the Introductory Folder)

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